Week 2 - Wordle Ideas

After you have experienced creating a WORDLE, post a comment about anything you have observed about Wordle or your ideas for how you might use it instructionally. See the examples provided below. When you are ready to post your thoughts about Wordle, remember to click on EDIT THIS PAGE at the top right, then click in the next available row in the table to type your name and your one sentence idea or thought about Wordle.
If all the rows have been used, click in the last row and then click on the table icon (). Then, choose Row, Add Row, Add below to add another row for your entry.

BE SURE TO SAVE! Revisit this page to see what others have posted-save good ideas to use in your classroom!

Participant Name	Ideas about using a Web 2.0 Technology like Wordle
Donna Pepper	I like the way words that I have used more than once appear larger since it helps me get a visual of the "big ideas" in my writing.
Cheryl Ward	Paste in the content of a famous speech and see if students know the speech, study the words used most frequently, is that why the speech was famous?
Kathy Reed	Wordle is a great tool when you want kids to compare/contrast. For instance, compare the inaugural address of two presidents. How are they alike/different? What "big ideas" did they have in common?
Kathy Reed	One of the other facilitators told me about this site: http://web20classroom.blogspot.com/2009/10/why-wordle.html If you scan down the page you'll see a slide show with 46 ways to use wordle in the classroom. If you needed ideas, be sure to check this out.
Victoria Keller	I liked the idea of writing characteristics, we have been working on the Trail of Tears and Andrew Jackson. He had some very good traits and some that my students definitely did not like. Wordle would give them a different way to express their thoughts about a topic.
Chris Walter	I like the idea of making a WORDLE for characters in a book and then having the students choose which character goes with which WORDLE based on personal characteristics. I also think it would be a fun way to "get to know" your students--have them create WORDLES during the first week and based on what they put on there, try to guess who it is--then display them with a student's picture.
Diane Fox	I like the idea of making a Wordle to review main processes in the three biogechemical cycles for science. Students could make a seperate Wordle for each cycle. This would help them see the relationships that occur in each cylce. This is great way to compare and contrast the cycles. I like Chris's idea of having students create Wordles at the beginning of the year. This could easily replace the paper/pencil survey I usually give at the beginning of the year.
Shelly Williams	I would like to use Wordle as an introduction at the beginning of the year. I would like students to have an opportunity to free-write their ideas about Language Arts, reading, writing, poetry, and anything else they associate with this class and/or its content. They could then use this free-write to create a Wordle. It will be interesting to see their common ideas, interests, even dislikes, and then post their Wordles in the room.
Pamela Scarfpin	I would like to use Wordle for my science students as they review the scientific method and also as they learn the main ideas and concepts in a chapter.
Sarah Luthy	One way I foresee using Wordle in the classroom is by creating a Wordle of all the indicators to be studied in a given nine weeks. From the Wordle, I would want students to come up with the big ideas for the quarter and questions for exploration.
Connie Miller	One way I could use the Wordle in my math classes is to introduce a unit of study like geometry by using the vocabulary words that go along with the subject.
Casey Wright	Wordle seems to to be very similar to concept or mind mapping. I once did this with an 8th grade class as an end of the year review. We were able to see how virtually all of the things we studied throughout the year were connected in a variety of ways to our everyday lives. Using the Wordle format may show how some things may be more relevant than others.
Mariann McClelland	Wordle is a way to make learning fun. I would like to have a Wordle in which students have antonyms or synonyms and they locate a matching word. Having the layout "Any Which Way" is a favorite of mine.
Paula Thomas	I have never used wordle in the classroom, but would like to use it as a more interactive KWL chart when starting a new topic or unit in math. This way the students that use the same word more than once wordle will count this for us and I will know that I can glaze over the larger words because they were mentioned more often than the small words.
Kathy McClelland	When I would have younger students write to a prompt in class, I would brainstorm with the class and write words on the board for them. I think it would be great to write the words on the Whiteboard, and then copy and paste them into Wordle for display during the writing lesson. I especially liked the color display that was labeled yramirP. It made the words appear with a 3-D effect.
Tami Null	Wordle is something very new to me. I would like to try it to introduce a new chapter or unit using key words.
Cyndi Eickhoff	I love it! What a fun and creative way to use in Language Arts. I am always trying to find activities (especially around the holidays) to do with my students. It would be fun and very creative for them to use Wordle to express what the holiday means to them. You could use it in spelling, vocabulary, any creative expression for students. We do a big biography project in the seventh grade, and this would be a great opener for the project. We just read Bat 6, which is sometimes confusing trying to keep the characters straight. I could have each student take his/her character and Wordle characteristics about his/her character. I can think of a hundred uses for this.
Morgan Nickolai	I think Wordle would be a good way to introduce new vocabulary terms for any unit. Students could also use it at the beginning of the year to introduce themselves to their classmates. They could use words that described them and their personality traits.
Whitney Stolly	I would love to have students keep a running journal of vocabulary words they have encountered or learned by reading a book. This would make learning vocabulary much more appealing for them.
Stephanie Forson	I think Wordle is really cool. I definitely think I will use this at the beginning of the year to have students describe themselves to me and then it can be a dual for their cover to their notebook. I would like to use it later on in my classroom to review for vocabulary for an upcoming weekly quiz, look at a bigger picture of what words are the most important for what my students are learning in a written report. I think it could be used a very valuable tool to compare and contrast big ideas. I also like the thought of having my students use this to describe to me what a SCIENTIST really is and looks like.
Keri Higgins	I think Wordle is a great way to show my students the main ideas of famous documents and speeches like the Declaration of Independence or The Gettysburg Address.
Victoria Keller	I used a Wordle to do an introduction to a video we watched in Science. The students liked looking for the words and it also gave them an idea of what to except once the video started instead of me doing the talking. The lower readers had to get use to it but if it was used more ofter they might feel more comfortable and even begin to recognize words, which would boost confidence.
Glen Schulte	I can see using a Wordle as another tool to analyze science writing such as articles from journals. Having the students read articles is one way to supplement texts with the newest information out there. By creating a Wordle of an article, the students could have a new way of looking at the information that may provide some insight.
Philip Malone	Wordle is great for any type of graphic where you are working with key words and vocabulary. I can see a language arts teacher using wordle to explain and get students to recognize the different types of propaganda. You could use the type of propaganda many times so that it shows up as the largest word and then use words that are commonly associated with that propaganda. Also, I created a wordle for an extracurricular school activity. Sports teams can use wordle to type their goals and words of inspiration.
Nancy Fry	I've taken my syllabus for a clas for next year and made a "Wordle". It will be our cover sheet to our portfolio showing our focus for the year. I think it would make an interesting addition or application for an essay or report. For example: after completing an assignemnt, students could copy and paste their papers into Wordle and see if their intended focus of their essay comes across in the words they chose and the frequency they were used. It may inspire revisions.
Frank Sedgwick	In my English 11 and 12 classes, we read Othello, Hamlet, and MacBeth. This past school year, I used an online Shakespeare concordance to find words that frequently repeat in these texts in order for the students to discover the "big ideas" that are there and to generate paper topics. However, I like the use of Wordle better because of its strong visual impact. This upcoming school year, I will have the students enter famous soliloquies, entire scenes, or even acts to accomplish the same thing with more effect.
Carol Schottelkotte	I can see using a Wordle as a kind of concept mapping activity. Students would pick out the words that had the most significance for a particular section in a chapter. Another use could be when we study the systems of the body, using the Wordle to identify major and minor organs and functions for a particular system.
Adam Michael	I'm going to keep referring to Building Academic Vocabulary because it's such a large part of our district plan. As students construct their definitions, examples, etc. a class could create a wordle for the vocabulary. The key words and examples would serve as connectors to meaning.
Julie Sasala	Woodle gives my math students a better chance to EXPERIENCE the definitions. Sometimes it is difficult for students to memorize math terms. I have been fortunate enough to have to draw pictures and write down clues that will help them next to the definitions. I think woodle will enhance these math terms because they get to visualize the words even more compared to me just using pictures. I think the students should create their own woodle, share it with the classroom and teach them the defintion!
Jason Kamp	The exciting thing about Wordle is that any text (literature, student work/essay, historical document, speech, newspaper article, etc.) can be used to create a Wordle that can be used for any number of applications: main idea, key words, theme, vocabulary, similarities/difference, et al. The ability to then compare like texts side by side using a visual representation of sometimes abstract thematic concepts is a powerful learning tool in the Language Arts classroom.
Kathy Swanger	I have used wordle. I copied the textbook selection on the Korean War. Then I made the wordle and used it as an introductory/preview assignment. It helped the student know what to focus on in the main lesson.
Diana Limo	I have been excited about Wordle for awhile now. I actually have Wordle created backgrounds on all my computers! One way to use a Wordle that just popped in my head (it's infectious I have thought of hundreds of ways to use it!) is that while studying poetry students could enter the poem into the generator and see repetition at work! The words used most frequently get the biggest (it omits common English words, thankfully!) I could really see my kids getting into this with "The Highwayman" or "Annabel Lee".
Scott Heflin	I wonder if it could be useful to Wordle released OAT tests with the students, maybe give groups different years to see what words show up the most and let them know what they should focus on for the year. I think it could be used to introduce topics by researching on the internet. The text they find is used to create a Wordle to see what the important concepts are and what will guide the instruction.
Diane Hobson	As others have stated, Wordle could be used so many ways. It could be used in all subjects and for all ages. I think it is a great way for students to visually see the main idea of a story or news article. For example, I pasted in a story about the BP oil spill in the Gulf. The key words that are bigger than the others are: Gulf, tar, spill, beaches, oil, officials, and disaster. By looking at those 7 words, students could make an inference about what the article was about, even if they were not familiar with the issue. It would be good to go back then and read the article and see if the student inferences were correct.
Melissa Guffey	I LOVE WORDLE!!! As a language arts teacher and one who loves to explore words and meanings, I can see all kinds of uses for it in a classroom. One idea I had was for students to choose a favorite poet, musician, or author and cut and past various pieces of works or songs into wordle to see if the person uses specific words throughout their works. I did this last night with one of my favorite songs, "Your Beautiful" by James Blunt. I also like the idea of using this with students when summarizing. Just the size of the words helps them to see what are the most important ideas and then it can help them to decipher when trying to write their own summary.
Josh Frame	I really like to use wordle to provide a quick way to code a large amount of information to produce a graphic to encourage group discussion. I may take a long research article about Response to Intervention and throw the text into wordle to produce the graphic. Then, use the graph as a means to communicate and discuss this process with staff members. I have not used this a great deal, but I am excited about the possibilities of this site to assist in communication and summarizing ideas.
Jim Engel	Wordle combined with a graphical dictionary/thesaurus could be used to develop vocabulary skills in ESL students along with providing enrichment for other students.
Kyle Haines	I think I could use wordle to create steps in solving a math problem or defining a math term to pass out to my students or to have them make a wordle to steps to a math problem or math term.
Robin Kuhn	I created a Wordle with my class list and the students loved seeing their name projected on the wall. I thought it may be neat to have a Wordle welcoming each class the first day of school. Love the idea of creating a Wordle of the State Indicators to be covered quarterly!
Mindy Fulks	After viewing the 46 ideas for using Wordle, I am dizzy. Classroom Expectations, summarizing texts, story starters for journals, posters for parts of speech, gifts of writing for Christmas, Mother's Day, character trait analysis, adding artwork to the wordle by hand! I found www.wallwisher.com that was really interesting too!
Kelly Klosterman	I agree...I was overwhelmed by the numerous great ideas of how to use Wordle in my class. I work with a large population of ESL students who could greatly benefit from seeing vocabulary words in this format while my enrichment students could have the chance to create the Wordle. A major part of my room is a word wall and Wordle seems like a more hip, technological, creative way to create a word wall.
Chad Haemmerle	I can imagine using wordle in vocabulary capacity, or perhaps to throw out new words for an upcoming unit.
Chris McAndrew	I can see using Wordle in a variety of situations, but one idea would be to use it to show key terms or ideas that repeat in the class. It is also a great way for students to quickly describe an individual or period of time. I am sure to incorporate its use in the future for sure.
Kelly McGraw	I imagine using wordle to create a scavenger hunt for locations on a map. Students would use the wordle to label instead of a list of locations.
Scott Cameron	Apparently, when you forget to hit save, it doesn't save. Or I didn't copy/paste it...anyways.. Wordle I think could be used in a manner that shows the way in which the student writes. It is a tough thing to be able to use in Science. However, since people typically repeat important terms in their writing, it would be interesting to see which of the words comes out "the biggest"--what Wordle deems as "most important". That may give some sort of guidance to the student to see key terms for the unit of study.
Ryan Fowble	I did not see this wiki till late so here goes nothing. Better late than never? I think using a wordle to introduce vocabulary and essential indicators could be a good idea. I am thinking of some way for the students to incorporate wordle but have not really thought of that idea. In a high school math class opportunities are less for students to present but I am still working on it.
Jeff Clark	I'm a little late as well. To say I think using Wordle to introduce vocabulary would seem like a cop out at this point, but I think it is true. I especially see it as an effective tool for our Special Education students, who don't always respond to the more traditional approaches for learning vocabulary. Wordle also seems as though it would be a wonderful brainstorming tool.
Johnathan Ogg	I have never used wordle in my classroom, but can see the added benefits of possibly using such a tool as a preview for a chapter or unit in my American and World History classes. This is a great way to show students the main subject matter, topics, ext.. that they would be covering over a chapter or unit.
Curt Moore	I have never used wordle in my classroom. When I first viewed it I thought it would be best used in Language Arts classes, but the more I viewed it I realized that it would be good to cut and paste certain Science articles in it and use it to learn about the Science vocabulary. Students in my school fear Science because they do not understand the vocabulary. This may be a way to make learning vocabulary fun.
Joachim LaValley	We used Wordle.com in my class to look at the words used by Barack Obama from his inaugural address. I also had students do Wordles on their own short story writing. If a word like "LIKE" came up a lot they knew that they needed to go in and redo their writing. Also if "low level vocabulary" words showed up they would need to consulate the built in thesaurus (MS Word) to up the vocabulary level. Other ideas that I have considered would be speeches (famous speeches from around the world, poetry, invitations or announcements.
Jill Hecker	I think that wordle has many uses. As an English teacher, any type of vocabulary activity can be used in the wordle. It could be terms from a story or I use everyday vocabulary to enhance their speaking. It could help to review at the end of a novel as well. Students seem to like the visualness of items, and this would help in many ways.
Jeff Rase	I think wordle could be used as a tool for students in presentations. Oner of the ideas that I found on the site that Kathy cited was to use wordle to have students to use as many words as they can in a character description and use for class discussion as a compare/contrast. The possibilities for Wordle are endless and lie in the creative young minds that we touch every day.
Robert Kelly	Created a wordle but had difficulty getting it to post. My wordle was from Hamlet's "To be or not to be speech" - we are teaching Hamlet to our ACE classes this year and seeing the play in January at Cincinnati Shakespeare Company.
Kara Bakie	When reading a novel, I like to use Wordles as a way for students to generate key words that they associate with the reading. I have found that this serves as an effective brainstorming tool.
Greg Stickel	While I could see Wordle being used in a variety of content areas and with a variety of lessons, I think that it lends itself particularly well to Language Arts. I could see teachers making use of the program to focus on the "big" ideas thematically, in a novel or short story, or even to organize academic vocabulary. The format really appeals to those students who are both visual and hands on learners.

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